"As we pray for the repose of Father Fay's soul, we offer prayers and condolences to his mother and family," McAleer said in a statement. McAleer said he did not know the cause of death.

Fay suffered from prostate cancer. The start of his prison term was delayed six times while federal prosecutors and Fay's attorneys worked out a deal through which he could continue treatment through a clinical trial he began at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York before he pleaded guilty in September 2007 to interstate transportation of money obtained by fraud.

On Oct. 21, a federal Bureau of Prisons spokesperson confirmed that Fay began serving his 37-month sentence at a federal medical facility in Massachusetts, where he was set to continue treatment at the nearby Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

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An online inmate locator showed Saturday he had moved to a federal medical facility in North Carolina, where he was originally supposed to serve his prison term, but it was not clear when he moved there. An operator who answered the telephone confirmed the roster there showed he had been there and that he was temporarily removed Saturday.

Fay was pastor of St. John for 15 years, starting in 1991. Prosecutors said he stole $1.3 million from the parish from 1999 to 2006, funneling much of it into secret bank accounts. Fay admitted stealing but said the amount was $400,000 to $1 million, because he used some of the money to buy gifts for church employees and volunteers.

Records obtained by Hearst Newspapers show Fay used a church credit card to purchase designer clothing, Cartier jewelry, limousine rides and Ethan Allen furniture. Many of the purchases were made in New York City, Philadelphia -- where his wedding planner boyfriend, Clifford Fantini, lives -- and Florida, where the pair owned a condominium.

The Darien parish and the diocese are now involved in a lawsuit by a former church bookkeeper, Bethany D'Erario, who has said she tried to alert Fay's superiors to his activities but nothing was done. D'Erario and another minister, the Rev. Michael Madden, hired a private investigator in 2006, who turned the information over the Darien police and federal investigators. D'Erario claims in her suit that the church and the diocese created a hostile work environment and took away her health care benefits after she hired the investigator.

The diocese has said D'Erario did not take any action before Fay was already being investigated, that she retained the same position with the same pay and benefits and chose to leave on her own.